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New Avid Services Enable Third Parties to Easily Exchange Avid-Native Media
[September 08, 2008]

New Avid Services Enable Third Parties to Easily Exchange Avid-Native Media


(Marketwire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) TEWKSBURY, MA, September 8 / MARKET WIRE/ --

Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) today
announced the availability of Avid? Media Toolkit and Avid Interplay? Web
Services: a pair of developer packages that significantly increase the
openness of Avid solutions to easily interface with third party
applications. Avid Media Toolkit is designed to improve the way developers
create, read and exchange Avid MXF media files with other industry
applications. Avid Interplay Web Services API is a high-level SOA interface
that enables customers and integrators to seamlessly incorporate Interplay
into customized automated workflows. It supports interaction with standard
Web applications such as Java and .Net environments and will reduce tedious
integration efforts, making the Avid suite of media-based products a much
easier fit into already established IT environments. One of the first
installments of the Web Services API was used in the production of the 2008
Summer Games.

"The content creation industry is growing at a rapid pace and increasingly
our customers are asking us to create ways to leverage their existing IT
investments and make them a part of their production environment," said Sam
Bogoch, director, Infrastructure Solutions for Avid. "Today's announcement
is just one of many strides we've made in recent months to make Avid
solutions more enterprise-friendly. This announcement builds upon the
release of our
BXF Gateway system -- which will significantly improve and streamline
broadcast workflows -- and the announcement that our Avid DNxHD? codec had
become an
industry standard for HD media exchange. We will continue to look at
ways to open up our solutions to ultimately benefit our customers and their
workflows."

Avid Media Toolkit

Avid Media Toolkit is a software development kit that will simplify the
task of creating and accessing Avid-native media for third parties. For
instance, developers will now have several options in addition to Avid
Interplay Transfer for material ingest as a part of file-based workflows,
which will greatly simplify the process of working with file-based media.
Avid Media Toolkit automatically converts files to Avid-native media files,
making it easier for customers to access media from a variety of sources
and applications. Customers will also be able easily move media from
various Avid systems into other production environments such as graphics,
audio or playout devices. Key features of the new Avid Media Toolkit
include:

-- The ability to read and write Avid-native MXF files together with
associated AAF metadata; and

-- Improved media exchange with Interplay environments

Formats supported in Avid Media Toolkit Version 1.0 include: IMX 30, IMX
40, IMX 50, DVCAM, DVCPro 25, DVCPro 50, DVCPro 100 and Avid DNxHD 120,
145, 185 and 220.

Avid Interplay Web Services

Avid Interplay Web services allows third party vendors to better manage
assets in an Avid Interplay environment and helps to extend Interplay
functionality outside the bounds of its built-in toolset. Avid has opened
up the interface for third parties to seamlessly integrate Interplay
features into their customized automated workflows, via XML. This
functionality was previously only available using the Interplay Access
application. Additional new functionality includes:

-- Folder navigation and listing

-- Folder management

-- Asset check-in and retrieval

-- Metadata input and retrieval

-- Searching

-- Locator Management

-- Sub-clip creation

-- Headframe management

MOG Solutions, a developer of MXF technology, recently licensed Avid's Web
Services API to complete the development of its TOBOGGAN product. TOBOGGAN
is designed to enable customers to ingest multiple resolutions of material,
check-in metadata to the Avid Interplay system and turn third party EDLs
into full-blown Avid sequences.


"The Avid Interplay Web services API has alleviated extremely complex
development and allowed us to develop more seamless file-based workflows
for our customers, especially those that work in time-critical
environments," said Ernesto Santos, marketing and sales manager of MOG
Solutions. "It will have an immediate impact on Avid's customer base,
especially those interested in seamlessly bringing metadata directly into
the Avid systems from tapeless camera sources like XDCAM and P2. One of the
first applications of the integration was used quite extensively by a major
broadcaster during the 2008 Summer Games."

Avid Interplay Web services are based on SOAP 1.1 and are compatible with
the most commonly used Web services frameworks such as Net 2.0 and Sun
Metro for Java (JAX WS). Developers interested in obtaining a licensing
agreement for Avid Web Services may do so by visiting:
http://www.avid.com/thirdparty/developers/.

About Avid Technology, Inc.

Avid is a worldwide leader in tools for film, video, audio, 3D animation,
gaming and broadcast professionals -- as well as for home audio and video
enthusiasts. Avid professional and consumer brands include Avid,
Digidesign?, M-Audio?, Pinnacle Systems?, Sibelius?, Softimage? and
Sundance Digital?. The vast majority of primetime television shows, feature
films, commercials and chart-topping music hits are made using one or more
Avid products. Whether used by seasoned professionals or beginning
students, Avid's products and services enable customers to work more
efficiently, productively and creatively. Avid received an Oscar? statuette
representing the 1998 Scientific and Technical Award for the concept,
design, and engineering of the Avid Film Composer? system for motion
picture editing. For more information about the company's Oscar, Grammy?
and Emmy? award-winning products and services, visit www.avid.com, del.icio.us, Flickr, technorati and twitter; or connect

with Avid on Facebook.

? 2008 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Product features,
specifications, system requirements and availability are subject to change
without notice. Avid, Digidesign, DNxHD, Film Composer, M-Audio, Interplay,
Pinnacle Systems, Sibelius, Softimage, and Sundance Digital are either
registered trademarks or trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. or its
subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. Emmy is a
registered trademark of ATAS/NATAS. Oscar is a trademark and service mark
of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Grammy is a trademark
of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Inc. All other
trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

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Contact:
Amy Peterson
Avid Technology
[email protected]

Copyright ? 2008 Marketwire

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